Entrepreneurs in the personal care space sprout in Bengaluru

The awareness about artificial ingredients and health-related issues are some of the reasons why a section of the people are going for chemical-free products.Ipsita Basu | ET Bureau | November 01, 2017, 09:17 IST

Last year, when Nishant Gupta and his wife were expecting, they didn't want to consume synthetic or chemical personal products to prevent any ill-effects on their child in the womb. Gupta, 31, quit his job at a fintech firm, to make his own home-made moisturiser, free of chemicals. It became so popular through just word-of-mouth that he launched Bliss Botanicals.

The company offers handmade body products free of chemicals and preservatives. “In personal care, chemical-free products are priced higher. We wanted to bridge the gap,“ he says.

The Indian personal care and cosmetics industry is likely to double to $11 billion in the next five years, according to a report prepared by Assocham and TechSci Research. And, boutique personal care startups are sprouting to cash-in on the consumer interest.

Sahar Mansoor, founder of Bare Necessities, another Bengaluru-based zero-waste personal care startup that offers nontoxic, cruelty-free and organic beauty products claims a threefold growth in its revenues since its launch last year. “Most of our consumers are young mothers, who are conscious of what they use and women over 60, who are happy that natural products that they grew up with are now available.“

The awareness about artificial ingredients and health-related issues are some of the reasons why a section of the people are going for chemical-free products. “In our experience, once people start using natural products, they rarely want to go back to conventional ones,“ says Mayura Kadur, 33, founder of city-based Do Bandar, a natural personal care startup.

Ingredients in such home-based personal care products include a variety of organic cold-pressed oil, raw kokum butter, turmeric, basic, rosemary , fruit peels, and honey , among others, that practitioners of the beauty tradition have used for ages.

Expectant mother Smirit Rawat, 31, has taken to using home-made creams. “Due to the positive results on my skin, I feel more comfortable using a natural skin-care product now.“

Wellness and beauty portal Nykaa considers Bengaluru as its top three markets. According to them in the past year, searches around natural-led personal care solutions have doubled on their site. “This reflects a growing discernment among customers to get an in-depth understanding of product ingredients and a demand for SLS, paraben and cruelty free products,“ says Nihir Parikh, chief business officer, Nykaa.